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Closing the net on overfishing

Research at UWE Bristol has been instrumental in major
initiatives to tackle overfishing. These initiatives have been
effective both in the UK’s own coastal waters and elsewhere, and
include the establishment of the world’s largest marine
reserve.

The initiatives have culminated in a recent High Court
finding confirming that, contrary to private ownership claims from
some stakeholders, UK fisheries are still publicly owned.

Isle of Arran

Back in 2008, the Community
of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST), formed to help protect marine
life against overfishing near the Isle of Arran, had drawn upon the
findings of UWE Bristol research led by
Tom Appleby, Senior Lecturer in Law. This had shown that the
Scottish Government had a greater duty to coastal communities in
managing fishing rights than was typically practised at the
time.

Relying on this legal argument, COAST was
successful in establishing a marine reserve in the island’s Lamlash
Bay to strike a balance between fishing and conservation. This was
Scotland’s first fully protected marine reserve.

Chagos Islands

As a result of the attention this drew to the arguments in the
UWE Bristol research, Appleby was invited to meet with a
variety of stakeholders who had identified the need for marine
reserves elsewhere.

He brought his research expertise and distinctive experience on
the current status of marine legislation in the UK, where the
complex statutory processes presented substantial challenges. He
argued that the establishment of marine reserves in overseas
territories, on the other hand, would be much more
straightforward.

Following Appleby’s presentation of these arguments, attenders
at the meeting identified a new opportunity to establish marine
reserves. They formed a new marine conservation agency, the
Blue Marine
Foundation (BLUE), to take this forward, and Appleby became one
of its trustees. In 2010, supported by a multimillion-pound grant
from the Bertarelli Foundation, it successfully negotiated the huge
Chagos Islands marine reserve in the British Indian Ocean
Territories.

Based on UWE Bristol research, BLUE argued that
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as owner of the fishery, could
create a reserve in a UK overseas territory much more easily than
in domestic waters. BLUE’s chair described it, at nearly 640,000
km2, as “the world’s largest marine reserve” and “one of
the most important acts of marine conservation ever
undertaken”.

Fisheries in EU waters

The EU
Habitats Directive protects wildlife and their habitats in a
network of so-called ‘Natura 2000’ sites within member states,
including the UK, who each regulate activities within their own
sites. However, they have not typically regulated fishing. The
sites cover 17% of EU waters and 23% of English inshore waters.

Using UWE Bristol research, the Marine Conservation Society, acting
together with environmental lawyers, challenged the UK government’s
approach: in 2012 the Government department Defra accepted that fisheries are indeed subject
to the Directive.

It is likely that other EU member states will now follow suit. This will
mean that these sites will for the first time be actively protected
against harmful fishing operations. One leading commentator has
described this as “the single most effective activity the Marine
Conservation Society has ever undertaken in its entire
history”.

UK quotas for smaller fishermen

Appleby’s research found that UK fishing quotas were in danger
of being accidentally privatised because of a weak understanding of
the law of property that applied to them. This would have
disadvantaged smaller, more sustainable fishermen.

A body that represents them (the New Under Ten Metre Fishermen’s
Association, NUFTA), together with environmental pressure group
Greenpeace, used this
research to lobby the UK Government to reallocate unused quota to
the inshore sector (fishermen that work within 6 nautical miles
from the coast). As a result, in 2012 Defra decided to do so.

However, this decision was challenged in a judicial review
initiated by representatives of companies that currently held large
quotas, who argued that these had become their property and so
could not be redistributed. Greenpeace and NUFTA used the UWE Bristol research in legal
proceedings in support of Defra’s decision, showing that the UK fishery was
still public property.

In July 2013, the High Court found in favour of this view.
Greenpeace has confirmed “We relied heavily on work conducted by
UWE and Tom Appleby” in achieving this important legal ruling,
which has safeguarded the public ownership of an asset valued at
around £1 billion.